2022's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2022's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Lamuella posted:

MOTYC: Buddy Matthews vs Ren Narita. New Japan Strong: Rivals, March 19

I know, I know, it's a MOTYC nomination for a match on Strong. how good could it actually be? Really loving good. Up there with the main events on today's DDT show for me. Matthews has strength, conditioning, and skill. Narita is Shibata 2.0, with the best training in the world behind him. This starts off with Matthews condescending to Narita, and then at about the five minute mark, Narita just starts loving with his head, forcing Matthews to actually take him seriously. Excellent, skillful duel between someone entering his absolute prime and the future of New Japan.

I was going to to with HM but it was on the cusp of MOTYC so I'll second. My favorite match on Strong since Eddie/Gabe Kidd.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2022 20:34

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 18:27

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Strong always gets lost in the shuffle, but I'll give an HM to Yuya Uemura vs. Daniel Garcia from this week's episode (aired 26 March). Hell of a match between two guys who could easily be the future on their respective continent.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2022 16:46

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Cole Radrick vs. Mike Bailey, Unsanctioned Pro Mulligan, 4/2
HM: Anthony Henry & JD Drake vs. Davey Richards & Mike Bailey, BLP Norm 4/2
HM: Anthony Greene vs. Black Taurus vs. Blake Christian vs. Alex Zayne, BLP Norm 4/2
HM: Carlos Romo, Kevin Blackwood & Titus Alexander vs. Dominic Garrini, Kevin Ku, & Tom Lawlor, BLP Norm 4/2
WMOTYC: Billie Starkz vs. Shazza McKenzie, BLP Norm 4/2

Did anyone have a better Mania weekend than Mike Bailey? Dude's really making up for lost time!

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 04:03

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Edward Mass posted:

MOTYC: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Ace Austin vs. "Speedball" Mike Baily - Impact X Division Championship
MOTYC: Moose (c) vs. Josh Alexander - Impact World Championship

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC

Started great with a bunch of flash pinfall attempts, became a very good NJPW main event style match and then the finishers came out

Nths.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2022 01:24

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

You've Nthed a blank MOTYC without mentioning what match it is for!

Editing quotes is hard apparently but Shingo/Taichi KoPW April 25. And yes many of that genre as well.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2022 04:47

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the Vacant IWGP US Championship - NJPW Dontaku 5/1

There are rules and restrictions in place in Japan where the crowd aren't allowed to do more than clap and stamp their feet. The Japanese fans have been very good about following these restrictions. This match was so loving good they just went,"gently caress that," and lost their loving minds, and it's entirely understandable.

Nth. It was great and it just kept getting better!

# ¿ May 2, 2022 00:22

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Crapple! posted:

I really want to watch the Mox/Lawlor match but someone said Mox gets put in a headlock and blood squirts out of his head and now I'm too scared to watch

I wouldn't say squirting but there was definitely some dripping. I think Lawlor did more bleeding overall.

I'll throw in an HM for Mox/Lawlor.

Chinston Wurchill fucked around with this message at 13:59 on May 5, 2022

# ¿ May 5, 2022 13:57

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Kvantum posted:

No, the blood spray was when Mox had Lawlor in a headlock, and I gotta admit, it's an image I didn't need to see, so I can understand the hesitance.

I wasn't sure if that was a stream of blood or blood-soaked strings of hair, though I suppose neither is great if you're averse to gore. The bloody slaps were awesome though.

# ¿ May 5, 2022 14:39

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Chris James 2 posted:

MOTYC Josh Alexander (c) vs Tomohiro Ishii for the Impact title, Impact Under Siege 5/7

Nth. A fine representative of the Ishii match as Alexander more than held up his end. Worth seeking out for Ishii fans.

# ¿ May 9, 2022 19:17

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Nyla Rose & Emi Sakura vs. Yuka Sakazaki & Skye Blue - AEW Dark Elevation 5/23

What the gently caress this was WAAAAAY better than it had any right to be. Don't sleep on this, it's a wonderful match with an incredible finish.

Nth, really good. Between this and last week's Woods/Yuta match on Dark the c-shows have been overdelivering lately.

# ¿ May 24, 2022 04:22

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi in the BOSJ Final - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 6/3

Holy poo poo so loving good, so many cool moments. The 25 minute call blew me away because I swear the match had only been going for 10 minutes at that point. The wrong wrestler won but holy poo poo what a match.

Yeah same. Unfortunately it also didn't compare to their 2020 final from my perspective but I'm not sure how much of that was hindsight bias.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2022 01:37

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

DPW No Surrender June 5

All HMs:
JD Drake vs. Alex Coughlin
Colby Corino vs. Calvin Tankman (DPW National Title Eliminator Semi Final Match)
Miyu Yamashita vs. Miyuki Takase

I mostly tuned in for Coughlin/Drake but the whole show was fun and well worth checking out. The tag title match, the other National Title Semi Final, the trios match, and the main event were all good too. Colby Corino has improved a great deal since I last saw him in New Japan and ROH almost a decade ago. Coughlin is just a beast and the top rope gutwrench was insane.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2022 16:23

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Catching up on some indie stuff.

Warrior Wrestling 21 (23 April 2022)

HMs
Karl Fredricks vs. Clark Connors
Bryan Cage & KC Navarro vs. Dante x2
Will Ospreay vs. Blake Christian

Fun show! Connors and Fredericks brought some new stuff which was neat. Clark's seated full nelson facebuster was particularly cool.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2022 17:12

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Tomohiro Ishii vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the AEW All Atlantic Championship tournament - NJPW Road (6/20)

That was too loving good to be in front of a half full Korakuen on a Monday night. Holy poo poo. Kanemaru is so loving good at being an underhanded little poo poo and a compelling underdog all the same time. Probably Ishii's best match of the year. They told such a fantastic story of Kanemaru working over his leg and his utter desperation to win. One of my favourite matches of the whole year.

Nth. I'd already seen the noms before watching and it sti exceeded my expectations.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2022 04:40

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Pylons posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDnnZw65JTk

It's free now!

I'd go HM, but heck of a match in any case!

HM: Mike Bailey vs. Konosuke Takeshita, West Coast Pro Wrestling 93 Til Infinity. Also free to watch. I might have enjoyed this even more than the Moriarty match! Speedball is popping up everywhere this year and I've been loving it!

# ¿ Jun 23, 2022 04:14

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

SatoshiMiwa posted:

HM: Fred Rosser vs Tom Lawlor New Japan Strong Jun 25th

Bloody stiff brawl that was the right kind of sloppy in places and heated and violent. Rosser has been great in New Japan and should get a Japan tour

Nth.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2022 14:25

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jon Moxley - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 6/26

The match itself was excellent but even more than that was the way Tanahashi, the Ace of the Universe, managed to entrance the entire crowd and get them all entirely behind him in spite of being the outsider challenger. Incredible.

Yeah I wish they could have called an audible after the "GO ACE" chants during the choke and sleeper.

What a show!

# ¿ Jun 27, 2022 04:44

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

forkboy84 posted:

From the handful of US indy stuff I've seen this year Speedball has been absolutely fantastic.

Yeah, I've been trying to catch all of his stuff that I can and he's one of my faves despite not being in any of the promotions I usually watch.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2022 17:54

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Ziggy Tzardust posted:

HM: Luke Jacobs vs Francesco Akira RevPro anniversary 20/08

If you haven�t seen LukeJacobs the best way I can describe him is of WALTER was a cruiserweight. You had a big, powerful babyface against a smaller, more technical heel and it was fantastic

Jacobs had a hell of a match against Micheal Oku in July as well (I'll go HM on that, from 23/07).

# ¿ Aug 22, 2022 03:19

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

Was that the RevPro Summer Sizzler show?

Yeah, I'm just getting to it now because all this wrestling.

I don't know how people have time for DDT and TJPW on top of all the other stuff, but perhaps not everyone insists on watching every bit of AEW content like I do.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2022 04:26

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

4thed. Holy poo poo.

That moment when both members of Aussie Open were locked into submission holds and the one starts slapping the poo poo out of the other to stop him from tapping out goddrat.

Nth. On level with the FTR/Briscoes matches, wow.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2022 18:53

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Ziggy Tzardust posted:

HM: Yota Tsuji vs Tomohiro Ishii. New Japan Royal Quest 02/10

Really hard hitting and shows just how far Tsuji has developed on his UK excursion. Shota could learn some things from him

Second. I can't believe Tsuji did a Fosbury flop!

# ¿ Oct 17, 2022 03:02

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

HM: Utami Hayashishita vs. Mayu Iwatani (IWGP Women's Title Tournament Semi Final Match) 23 October.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2022 00:48

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Chinston Wurchill posted:

HM: Utami Hayashishita vs. Mayu Iwatani (IWGP Women's Title Tournament Semi Final Match) 23 October.

From the same show:

Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe vs. Tomoka Inaba & Syuri (Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League 2022 Block B Match)

MIRAI & Ami Sohrei vs. Himeka & Maika (Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League 2022 Block A Match)

Thekla & Giulia vs. Natsupoi & Tam Nakano (Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League 2022 Block B Match)

Yuu & Nanae Takahashi vs. Koguma & Hazuki (Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League 2022 Block A Match)

Alpha Female vs. KAIRI (IWGP Women's Title Tournament Semi Final Match)

Great show, worth going out of your way to check out!

# ¿ Oct 24, 2022 23:36

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

What are these? HMs? MOTYCs?

Oh right, that part. All HMs.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2022 17:09

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

All from NJPW Battle Autumn November 5.

HM:
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Championship: United Empire (c) (TJP and Francesco Akira) vs. L.I.J (BUSHI and Tit�n)
NJPW World TV Championship Semi-Finals:Ren Narita vs. SANADA
NJPW World TV Championship Semi-Finals:Zack Sabre Jr. vs. EVIL
Incredible Tag Match:Taiji Ishimori and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Master Eato
IWGP Tag Championship:FTR(c) vs. United Empire (Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan

MOTYC:
IWGP US Championship:Will Ospreay(c) vs. Tetsuya Naito

Chinston Wurchill fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Nov 6, 2022

# ¿ Nov 5, 2022 22:00

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

HM: AproditE (Saya K and Utami) vs. Black Desire (Momo W and SLK), Stardom Goddess of Stardom 12 November 22.

If I was more on the ball I'd have more Stardom noms lately, but this one stood out enough for me to go the extra mile.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2022 20:42

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Chris James 2 posted:

MOTY
Josh Alexander vs Speedball Mike Bailey
Impact Wrestling 12/8

Nth. Shame this was the same weekend as Final Battle but it's worth going out of your way to see.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2022 23:51

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

As with the FSGP I'd be nominating more Goddess Tag League matches if I was more on top of things, but from today's binge viewings these were standouts:

November 27:
HM: Syuri/Inaba vs. Saya K/Utami
HM: Thekla/Giulia vs. Maui/Momo K

December 3
HM: Hazuki/Koguma vs. Ami Sourei/Mirai

December 4
HM: Saya Iida/Hanan vs. Ami Sourei/Mirai
HM: Maika/Himeka vs. Hazuki/Koguma
HM: Nanae Takahashi/Yuu vs. Ruaka/Natsuko Tora (MEAT BATTLE!)
HM: Momo Watanabe/Starlight Kid vs. Giulia/Thekla
HM: Tam Nakano/Natsupoi vs. Saya Kamitani/Utami
MOTY Finals - Nanae Takahashi/Yuu vs. Saya Kamitani/Utami

Great Japanese tag wrestling these past two months!

Punch McLightning posted:

I don't follow Impact's storylines but after watching a lot of matches this year, I can definitely recommend it as a promotion to parachute into. They deserve more acclaim for the year they've had.

Josh Alexander and Mike Bailey are probably my favourite wrestlers in promotions that I don't regularly watch. Shame I barely have enough time to keep up with the promotions I do follow.

Chinston Wurchill fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Dec 13, 2022

# ¿ Dec 13, 2022 05:16

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Jerusalem posted:

I'm assuming Tam is Tam Nakano and Utami is Utami Hayashishita but I have no idea who Saya I or Ami or Maui is, and I don't want to fill these out myself and get a name wrong. I've put all those in as-is but it's a lot easier to keep track of these things if full names are used, so please use them!

Fair enough, just phone posting and wanting to put forth minimal effort/avoid typos. I edited accordingly.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2022 05:36

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

SG Bamboo posted:

JTO TakaTaichi 50th Anniversary Show December 19th
MOTYC
Tomoko Inaba vs Suzu Suzuki
- I already knew Suzu was rad as hell from her deathmatches, but Inaba went from me not knowing her to wanting her on every show I watch. Just a brutally physical match where both ladies came out looking tough as nails

Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and DOUKI) vs Jun Kasai and Tomoaki Honma
- Old man MiSu has a few more wars left in him, not as crazy as Kasai's Freedoms stuff but the blood poured freely here

Shingo Takagi (h) vs Taichi - KOPW 2022 Trophy
- First half or so wasn't really grabbing me but then these two stepped it up in a big way and didn't let off

Hot crowd, great matches, TakaTaichi shows remain fantastic

Nth

Also, HM: Syuri, Mirai, Ami Sourei, and Tomoka Inaba vs. Giulia, Thekla, Maika, and Himeka, Stardom December 17.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2022 15:49

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 18:27

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

Burn Down Canberra posted:

Motyc : Utami v KAIRI, Stardom dream queendom 29/12

Crapple! posted:

Edit: I'll Take this time to also nominate from Stardom Dream Queendom 12/29

MOTYC: AZM (c) vs. Hikari Shimizu

DarkstarIV posted:

MOTYC: Giulia vs Syuri, STARDOM Dream Queendom, 12/29/22

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

Yeah, plus

MOTYC meltear (Tam Nakano & Natsupoi) (c) vs. 7UPP (Nanae Takahashi & Yuu) for the Goddess of Stars Championship

Nths.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2022 00:19

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2022's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)